More by Jane M. Von Bergen

Dreary day outside, but I'm busy looking for signs of hope -- even pathetic little scrawny ones. In that category, I present the results of a survey of 142 executive recruiters conducted by ExecuNet Inc, an executive recruiting firm in Connecticut. Since August 2008, at least 50 percent of those surveyed have expected executive recruiting assignments to decrease. In February, nearly three out of four recruiters surveyed predicted a continuing decline in the assignments.

Now, though, the number is edging up.

A majority of recruiters are still predicting a downward decline -- but now four out of 10 are confident that the executive employment market will improve in the next six months.

"Executive search firms, particularly those that specialize in high-growth industries such as Healthcare, Biotech, Energy, Environmental Services and Clean Technologies have seen a clear improvement in assignment growth in recent weeks," ExecuNet's president, Mark Anderson, said in a statement.